Summer Birthdays...

Well, the summer has come and gone, as it always does. I still can't believe that it's over. The girls have started school and the routine of life is moving forward. We had a practically perfect summer, which I'm so grateful for. There are two summer birthdays in the family, so I figured I'd update everyone on the celebrations.

 

First of all, BRINLEY IS ONE!

 

Truthfully, I can't believe it. I feel like I just barely had her. Where has the time gone? About a month before her birthday, Brinley's red-headed attitude came out. We LOVE it. In German, they have a saying that is, "She has pepper in her blood." That fits Brinley so well, because she is SPICY. If she wants something, she let's us know. She will point and yell. When she gets frustrated, her face turns bright red and she screams at the top of her lungs. It's not a cry, but a scream! It's really funny.

 

Here are a few pictures from her celebration. We kept it simple. Just the five of us. And yes, she did get a ton of presents, but they are all hand-me-down gifts from when the big girls turned one. Well, we did buy her one thing. She doesn't know the difference, right? :)

 

 

 

Sean is the other summer birthday that we get to celebrate. He turned 32 on August 19th. His birthday is also the anniversary of when we got engaged. It's been seven whole years crazy.

 

Sean's birthday was pretty simple as well. We had our friends, the DeMills, over for cake and ice cream, and he opened his one present, a Brian Regan DVD. Here are a few pictures of the big day.

 

 

Pretty great cake, right? Oh yeah. I'm a good wife. :)

 

Sean's real celebration actually took place a few days before his birthday. We went to Cedar Point, which is an amusement park in northern Ohio. The kids stayed behind (thank you Britt!) which made for a practically perfect day. Don't get me wrong. We adore our babies. But it's hard to go on the big thrill rides with little ones tagging along!

 

 

 

We had ice cream for dinner. How much better could it get?

 

Here we are in the parking lot, saying goodbye to a great day. So sad to leave!

 

That about sums up our summer of birthdays! We have a few months off before the mad rush of holidays begins. Avery's birthday in October, Halloween, our anniversary in November, Thanksgiving, my birthday in December, Christmas, Anika's birthday 3 days after Christmas, New Years, etc. It's going to be a fun couple of months!

 

 



The Big Birthday Girl!

That's right. It's official. I no longer have a baby. Brinley is ONE YEAR OLD!!! I honestly don't know where this year has gone. I mean, Anika and Avery have grown up fast, but Brinley's little life is flashing before my eyes! I feel like I should still be pregnant with her, yet here she is, a big girl.

Brinley is crawling all over the place, and fast. She is officially a climber and LOVES to make her way up the stairs. She is also a pro at getting onto the girls' beds. (They're still in toddler beds, so it's pretty simple.) Although Brinley's red hair is coming in beautifully, she seems to have hair-envy, because every chance she gets, she is pulling her sisters' hair. Avery is totally patient with it; Anika, not so much. Brinley waves to everyone and has the cutest little crazy-wave. She just flops her arm all around. She has found her voice and is particularly good at belting it out during the quiet times in church. She has seven teeth; four on top and three on the bottom. Her favorite foods include macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, and strawberries. To be honest, I haven't found anything that she won't eat yet. She's a great eater. This kid is a rock-star when it comes to sleeping. (I feel bad writing that in case some of you mommies reading this have tough sleepers.) But Brinley loves her nap time, which is usually between two and three hours every afternoon, and she sleeps from 8:00 at night to 7:30 in the morning. Um...ANGEL-BABY! I have told Sean multiple times that if I could be promised that my future babies would all be just like Brinley, I could have 10 more. She has been such a joy. Brinley is the happiest, most relaxed baby I have ever been around. I could just eat her up, she's so cute! The best time of day is when Daddy gets home. She will either start crawling super fast towards the door (if she's on the floor) or she will look at him, smile, then put her little face down like she's trying to hide from him. It's adorable.

There's isn't much more than I can say about my Brinley-girl other than I am totally and completely in love, and so is the entire family. She has brought such a special spirit into our home this year, and I can't imagine life without her. I look forward to many wonderful years with this special child and feel so grateful that Heavenly Father sent her to me!

I LOVE YOU, BRINLEY!!!

It seems like she should still look like this...

or this...

or even this...

How did we get to this already?!





June 2012

Wow. I think it’s been a while since I last posted something. Sorry about that! I’m going to skip right into the month of June! What a month it has been. It all started with Anika’s very first dance recital.

Anika took ballet, tap, and gymnastics this year, and I think we have found her little niche. She LOVES to dance. She dances everywhere she goes. She did a wonderful job in the recital and I was one proud mommy.

Ballet

 

Tap

Gymnastics

 

Anika is such a ham. We love her so much. It’s really amazing watching you kids learn new skills and work hard to perfect them.

As far as our family vacation pictures go, well, I took over 400 pictures, so I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to pick out my favorites. I think that I can post a “picture book” kind of thing, so I’ll give it a try. Just as a brief summary, Sean and I took the girls to Disneyland this year. It was a fabulous week. We got to spend the first half of the week with Sean’s side of the family, and the last half of the week with my side. It was great getting to see so much family! Aside from the Disneyland pictures, you’ll also see beach pictures, swimming pictures, and San Diego cruise pictures. We had an amazing vacation and wish that we could go back and do it all over again.

Here are the pictures!

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I’m not exactly sure how this album thing works, so I’m going to post it and hope for the best! I’m so in love with my little family. These three little princesses have brought more joy into our lives than we ever imagined possible. I wouldn’t change a thing.